


Flowering Like the Stars

by spinninginfinity



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sexual Content, post-Transition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2012-09-15
Packaged: 2017-11-14 07:55:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinninginfinity/pseuds/spinninginfinity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sex and stargazing. That's largely it.</p><p>
  <i>‘I’ll take all the blame,’ she says. ‘I’ll explain that it was just because you were so devastatingly sexy.’</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowering Like the Stars

_Of everything I have seen,_

_it’s you I want to go on seeing:_

_Of everything I have touched,_

_it’s your flesh I want to go on touching._

_––_ Pablo Neruda

***

‘Josh?’

‘Huh?’

Donna smiles at him across the table. ‘ I said, are you eating the rest of your fries?’

‘Oh.’ He’d probably have gone back to them when he’s done gazing at Donna and appreciating the way the sea air is making her hair curl and the freckles the sun has brought out all over her shoulders and the way her long blue sundress hugs her body. But he thinks they may have gone past the point where he has any desire to deny her anything, so he hands over his fries without hesitation.

He’s got it pretty bad. He doesn’t care.

‘I was thinking we could walk along the beach,’ he says, leaning in to take her hand, and he’s not sure that novelty’s ever going to wear off. ‘The tide’s out; I checked.’

‘That’d be nice,’ she agrees, picking at his fries with her other hand. ‘And I still have our beach towels from earlier, so.’

‘We can drop them back at the hotel, if you want. Probably won’t need them.’

‘We might.’ At his questioning look she explains, ‘We might go swimming.’

He pulls a face. ‘My shorts will be damp still. Be a little uncomfortable to put them back on.’

With a small smile she says, ‘So don’t wear your shorts.’

‘Oh, I see.’ He laughs. ‘Shall we put a pin in the skinny-dipping idea?’

The smile doesn’t leave her face. ‘For the moment.’

The restaurant they’re dining in is right on the seafront, the last in a long row, and when they leave Donna automatically turns to walk back along it. Instead he tugs on her hand.

‘Let’s go this way,’ he says, inclining his head in the other direction.

‘We won’t be able to see a thing.’

‘Sure we will. Come on, I want to show you something.’

She looks at him curiously, and then shrugs. ‘Okay.’

They wander up the beach, hands twined together, until the light from the row of restaurants has long disappeared behind them. He’s right, though; they can still see.

‘Look up,’ he tells her.

She does. He watches her face closely.

‘Oh my god,’ she whispers, as she takes it in properly. ‘That’s—’

‘Impressive, huh?’ he says, feeling as smug as if he’s personally placed the white, bright orb of the moon and every one of the millions and millions of stars they can see spread out across the sky.

She breathes out slowly. ‘Don’t get that in D.C.’

‘No.’ He reaches down to pat the sand. ‘It’s not too damp. You wanna stop for a bit?’

‘Hang on.’ She reaches into her oversized bag, pulling out the two towels and waving them at him. ‘And you thought we wouldn’t need these.’

‘You had a different purpose in mind, as I recall.’

‘Yes. But we have, I believe, put a pin in that for now.’ She lays the towels side by side, pulling him down to lie back with her. She toes off her flip-flops and he follows suit. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she says softly. ‘I’ve never seen them like this.’ She shifts closer to him. ‘So do you know all the constellations and everything?’

He smirks. ‘Oh, all of them.’

She turns her face briefly against his shoulder, kissing it. ‘Tell me some.’

‘Uh.’ He points at the sky. ‘That’s the Big Dipper.’

‘Yeah...’ she says, amusement lacing her voice.

‘Orion’s belt.’ He gestures to the bright line of stars. ‘The rest of Orion there somewhere,’ he adds, waving his hand vaguely.

‘Interesting.’

‘And that’s... something Minor. Something Major over there. The Grizzly Bear, or whatever.’

‘You know, if the politics doesn’t work out for you, I think you have a real future as a planetarium guide.’

He laughs and searches the sky until he finds what he’s looking for. ‘You see that one, uh…’ He moves his head closer to hers, trying to indicate along her eye line. ‘Right there?’

‘Yeah?’

‘See how it’s sort of red? That’s Mars.’

 He hears her breathe in.

‘It’s just, you know. You don’t really think about it,’ she says. ‘We’re so busy and we don’t get to appreciate stuff like this. It’s sad, isn’t it?’

‘Reckon I should order the staff out on stargazing field trips every once in a while?’

‘Mm, they’ll love you.’

‘It’ll be my Big Block of Cheese Day,’ he says, and then wishes he hadn’t thought of that.

Donna turns onto her side and puts an arm over him, squeezing, and he clings to her.

‘Sorry,’ he mumbles.

‘Don’t. Don’t you ever feel like you have to apologize for talking about him or—or mourning him. You don’t. Okay?’

He nods against her hair. ‘I know.’ He closes his eyes briefly and then looks back to the stars.

‘You still want to land people on Mars?’ Donna asks quietly.

‘One day, I hope. Maybe not a priority for the first hundred days, but one day.’

‘I could go.’

‘Ah, but I’d miss you.’ He’s surprised at how easily the words slip out.

Her grip on him tightens. ‘I’d be good,’ she says.

He presses a kiss to the top of her head. ‘I know you would.’

They lie together in comfortable silence for a while, arms around each other with the stars reaching on and on above them. 

Eventually, Josh stretches and says with regret, ‘We should go back.’

‘Oh, but it’s nice here. And it can’t be that late. We can’t stay a little longer?’

‘Aren’t you getting cold?’

‘No. Are you?’ She presses herself into him, voice dropping as she says, ‘Because I can warm you up.’

‘I’m not cold,’ he says. ‘I just thought since it’s a bit of a walk back we should think about—’ _Back up!_ his brain screams as he takes in her heated stare. ‘Were—were you just—’ He swallows. ‘Was that you, ah... propositioning me a little bit just now?’

She smiles. ‘Would you like it if it was?’

‘We’re on a beach.’

‘Yes,’ she agrees. ‘Under the stars, with the ocean right there. Romantic, huh?’

‘We can’t.’

‘Why not?’

He blinks at her, sure there’s probably a reason. Oh right, yeah. ‘What if someone sees?’

‘There’s no one around,’ she points out.

‘You don’t think other people are capable of walking down this beach?’

‘It’s a big beach. The chances of anyone walking to this specific spot are—’

‘Please don’t tempt fate,’ he begs her, wincing.

She smiles brightly. ‘Does that mean you’ll do it?’

‘Have sex with you right now?’

‘Yeah. Come on.’ She kisses his jaw. ‘When else are you going to get to have sex on a beach?’

‘Fine,’ he mock-grumbles. ‘But if there’s a headline in the paper tomorrow—’

‘I’ll take all the blame,’ she says. ‘I’ll explain that it was just because you were so devastatingly sexy.’

His eyebrows shoot up. ‘Really? What else will you tell them?’

‘That I couldn’t possibly resist you. I just had to have my way with you right there on the sand.’

‘And what else?’

She props herself up on one elbow, rubbing a hand over his chest. ‘Much as I enjoy feeding your ego, I actually do want to have my way with you right here on the sand.’ Idly, she undoes a button of his shirt. ‘An idea it kind of seems like you’re coming around to?’ Another button.

‘Kind of, yeah.’

‘Good.’ She leans over and kisses him, coaxing his mouth open and trailing her tongue over his bottom lip. Josh hugs her to him, smoothing his hand in a wide, flat circle over the exposed skin of her back and then down, pulling her dress up to get at her underwear. She shifts, helping him slide it off, then slips a hand under the waistband of his shorts.

‘Donna,’ he mutters.

She smiles but doesn’t say anything, pushing his shorts and boxers down. He hisses at the sudden rush of cool air but the discomfort passes quickly when she throws a leg over his hip, sitting up with her knees either side of him. ‘Hello,’ she purrs.

He takes her hand and presses his lips to her palm. ‘Hi,’ he says, and then slips his fingers between her legs, stroking until she’s slick and gasping and wrapping her hand around him to guide him into her and why did he ever think this wasn’t a good idea?

She takes a couple of slow, deep breaths and then spreads her dress out around her. ‘See? No one can see anything this way anyway.’

He arches his eyebrows in amusement. ‘Yeah, I’m sure no one could— _wow_ —’ He breaks off for a second as she squeezes herself around him, then pants, ‘—possibly guess what we’re up to.’

‘But you are devastatingly, irresistibly sexy,’ she reminds him, lifting herself up and sinking back down again, and again, and god, she’s really good at this. ‘So we have an excuse.’

‘Thank you,’ he mutters, brain starting to fog as he pushes up into her, meeting her rhythm.  He’s not sure this is going to take very long.

She shakes her hair back, continuing to rock atop him with her breath coming in little gasps. ‘Josh,’ she sighs, after a while. ‘Don’t you want to tell me that _I’m_ devastatingly, irresistibly sexy?’

‘Wouldn’t do you justice,’ he bites out, urging her on with his hands on her hips.

She laughs, and he wonders if she thinks he’s just flattering her.

‘I’m serious,’ he insists, groaning as she tightens her muscles around him again. He runs his hands up over her stomach, settles them over her breasts. She’s not wearing a bra and her nipples stand up sharply against his palms. ‘You’re... beautiful. You’re so beautiful I—’ He breaks off, not sure how he can possibly finish and have her completely understand.

‘What?’ she whispers after a moment. Her hands cover his, urging him to stroke and squeeze. She’s looking at him now, eyes wide. ‘So beautiful you what?’

He gazes up at her face, framed by the stars, and she’s by far the more stunning of the two, so he tells her that, tells her he doesn’t care if he never sees stars like this ever again so long as he gets to see her. He’s close now, heat building in his thighs and groin and abdomen and, determined that she catch up to him, he pulls his hands from under hers and lifts the front of her dress, working his thumb against her in tight little circles. She braces her hands against his chest and whimpers his name, moving more quickly; her rhythm falters and then, _thank god,_ she cries out again, ‘Josh, Josh, _Josh—_ ’ and tenses and trembles, clutching at his shirt. He wraps his arms around her, dragging her down to him, managing a couple more thrusts before falling sharply into a climax that seems to ring in his ears long after it’s over.

She presses a kiss against his chest and lifts her hips, letting him slip free of her, and settles back on top of him, exhausted. He listens to her breathing return to normal and the waves slap against the shore and if not for the fact that the tide will be in in a few hours he’d probably suggest they just stay there.

At length, she sighs, ‘That was nice.’

‘Beach sex is the best sex,’ he mumbles, nodding.

She raises her head to look at him. ‘Oh, it is, is it?’

‘I never said it wasn’t going to be _good._ ’

‘No, you didn’t.’ She smiles and rests her head against his chest again. ‘I have more ideas for interesting things we can do, you know.’

‘Really?’

‘Uh huh.’

‘Like what?’ he whispers.

She moves up his body a little so she can kiss him, slow and lingering. ‘Well, for starters...’ she murmurs, and then her mouth curves into a grin against his and she springs to her feet. ‘Race you!’ she cries, pulling her dress up and flinging it off as she runs for the ocean.

‘Oh, you—’ Suddenly full of energy, he’s up and after her, undoing his last few shirt buttons and sprinting down the sand. ‘Cheat!’ he shouts, reveling in her answering laugh.

He catches up to her when she’s knee-deep in the water, grabbing her around the waist and toppling them both over. She shrieks in surprise.

‘Cold!’ she gasps.

‘It was your idea!’ he reminds her. ‘Thought we’d put a pin in this?’

‘I took it out. When else are we going to get the chance to skinny-dip?’

He looks at her, damp hair and bright smile, and thinks that he’ll get the chance to see her emerging from the shower that way over and over again. This may be the only time they make love on the sand, but every night they’ll get to sleep in the same bed together. What more could he need, really?

‘Not that I have any problem with being naked with you in the ocean,’ he says finally, ‘but I don’t care.’

She smiles and kisses him. ‘Neither do I.’

**Author's Note:**

> Especially as this is my first venture into the wild terrain that is smut writing, feedback is incredibly welcome!


End file.
